Who's Next?
by SatAM
Summary: The DD's went to the beach for their summer vacation, but what happens when someone threatens to get rid of them all, one by one? Who was the first to go, and Who's Next?
1. Summer Vacation

_**Hi there! This is my second fic and it will be containing a little bit of Takari, Taiora, Kenyako and maybe more. The timeline is six year after 02. **_

**Who's Next?**

**Chapter 1: Summer vacation**

"Isn't it great, spending the summer together at the beach?" said T.K with excitement. His bag pack slung over his shoulders.

Kari smiled at him. "Sure is!"

"We have to thank Yolei for this," Cody said, looking over his shoulders to see Yolei and Ken walking up behind him.

"Yeah, thanks Yolei," Tai shouted from the front as he walked up to the door.

"Don't mention it," said Yolei.

Tai inserted the key and turned it, opening the door of the villa. Yolei had managed to get permission from one of her uncle to use his beach house. Her uncle and his family would usually come up here for the summer, Yolei herself had followed them on several occasion, but this year they had gone off to China for their vacation. Yolei had asked her uncle whether she and her friends: T.K, Kari, Tai, Matt, Izzy, Joe, Sora, Davis, Cody and Ken, could use it instead. Now here they are, right in front of the entrance of the luxurious looking house.

"Whoa...," Davis looked around in the beach house. There was a huge, comfortable looking living room, a set of white leather sofa by the windows on the left, and a small round wooden table with four chairs on the right. He walked on the carpeted floor and ran his fingers over the top of the 29" television that sat in front of the sofa. "I think I'm going to enjoy this summer here."

"The view is magnificent!" Sora exclaimed as she pushed aside the soft white curtains and opened the windows, which overlooked the beach, enjoying the breathtaking view. A gentle sea breeze blew over her face and she took a deep breath. "The air feels so fresh and clean as well."

"Where are we going to sleep?" asked Joe as he started to explore the house. There was the living room, a kitchen, a dining room, a cellar, a bathroom, a veranda behind the house and the rooms upstairs.

"Well, there are six bedrooms," Yolei said, counting with her fingers. "Tai and Kari can share a room, Matt and T.K, Izzy and Joe, Davis, Ken and Cody and finally Sora and me. How's that?"

"Fine with me," said Matt as he dropped himself onto the soft sofa and leaned his head against it.

"Hey! How come I have the share my room with two others while you only share with only one?" Davis complained, looking away from the television set.

"Maybe I should have mentioned that you three will have the biggest room?" Yolei said, sounding a little annoyed.

Yolei showed everyone where his or her room was. They all went up to the second floor, where all the bedrooms were. Each of the rooms had one large bed (except for the largest room, which has two), a closet and a drawer. Davis immediately jumped onto one of the beds and started shouting out fanatically.

"This bed is mine, ALL mine!"

Ken and Cody sighed and shook their heads slowly.

"What time is it?" Cody asked.

"It's 2 o'clock," said Yolei, looking at her watch.

"Why don't we go down to the beach!?" Ken suggested, dumping his bag on the floor near the second bed.

"Sure, I'll go tell the others," said Cody.

All of them were already down by the beach about fifteen minutes later. Tai, Matt, T.K, Davis and Ken played around in the seawater, splashing at each other and trying to swim against the waves. The girls on the other hand, were relaxing themselves, sunbathing by the beach. Each of them had a pair of sunglasses and was putting on some sunscreen. They sat on the beach towels and before long, they were all lying on their back, enjoying the warmth of the hot summer sun.

There weren't many other people at the beach. Yolei had told them that not many people came up to this beach because it was too far away from town. Only a few people who prefer to have a quiet time by the beach would come all the up here.

"I wish Mimi was here," said Sora suddenly. "She would really enjoy this and it would definitely be much more fun with her around. I wonder where she is right now."

Kari sat up and grabbed a bottle of mineral water beside her. "Knowing her, she's probably enjoying herself on a beach somewhere in America right now," Kari said as she took off the bottle cap and started to drink the water. She glanced over at the boys who were still fooling around in the water. "Where are Izzy, Joe and Cody?"

Yolei took off her shades and sat up as well. "I think they went to the other side of the beach," she said. "Why would you be interested in where they are? T.K's right there, isn't he?" Yolei said with a grin, nudging Kari's elbow playfully while looking at the boys.

Sora also sat up to see Kari's reaction to Yolei's remark.

"What are you talking about!?" Kari said quickly. "We're just friends, that's all!"

"If that's the case, why is your face going all red?" Sora giggled. The truth was, she couldn't exactly tell whether Kari was blushing or not because her face was already slightly red due to sunbathing, but she wanted to play around anyway.

"What about both of you? Tai and Ken...," Kari said in an annoying sort of voice, her sunglasses perched at the tip of her nose so that her eyes were visible, rising one of her eyebrow. This time it was her turn to grin at them.

Sora and Yolei kept quiet. "Well, she got us there," Sora said and lied down again, her hands under her head.

Kari put her bottle of mineral water aside and joined Sora once again. "Sora, you _do know that my brother likes you as well, don't you?" she said._

"Yeah, I know," Sora sighed. "You must have told me a hundred times already."

"Then why didn't you tell Tai that you like him too?" Yolei asked, rubbing more sunscreen onto her arms.

Sora let out another heavy sigh. She thought for a while before saying, "I don't know..."

Yolei took a final look at the boys, who were now snorkeling, before lying on her back once again.

Slightly further down the beach, three other figures could be seen building a sandcastle. Joe dumped a pail of sand over Izzy's head and quickly took off, laughing his head off at an angry Izzy who was hot on his trail. Cody chuckled as he watched the two older boys chased each other all over the place.

Izzy collapsed onto the sandy beach a few minutes later, breathing heavily. Joe's head popped out of nowhere and looked down on Izzy, grinning mischievously.

"I give up!" said Izzy.

"Can we finish building the sandcastle now?" Cody asked impatiently.

"A wonderful job, don't you think?" Joe asked after they had finally finished building their sandcastle, but as soon as those words came out of his mouth, the front walls of their sandcastle collapsed.

"Err... Yeah...," said Izzy. "What a wonderful job it is."

Joe grinned sheepishly.

Cody sighed and shrugged. "Let's go join the others in the water!" he suggested, kicking down whatever was left of their pathetic sandcastle.

"Why don't you go ahead first? There's something I need to talk to Joe about first," Izzy said.

Joe looked blankly at Izzy. _I wonder what he wants to talk to me about?, he thought. After Cody had left, Joe turned to face Izzy, who had a very serious look on his face. "What did you wanted to talk to me about?"_

Izzy turned his head around to make sure no one was listening, before he walked up to Joe and started talking in a secretive manner. "Listen carefully, this is very important. Make sure no one else knows about this..."

"Where are Joe and Izzy? I thought they were with you?" Sora asked when she saw Cody.

"They're still somewhere over there," said Cody, pointing to the direction which he just came from. "Izzy wanted to talk to Joe about something, so I came here first. Aren't you girls going to play in the water?"

"Nah," Kari replied. "Not today. We still have plenty of time for that since we're going to spend another two weeks here."

Leaving the girls, Cody continued towards to the guys. He ran up to them, the water was up above his waist, and looked around. "Where's T.K?"

Davis and Ken grinned at each other. They seemed to be pushing or holding something down under the water. Bubbles were coming out of the water underneath Davis and Ken. Cody looked puzzled. He screamed when he suddenly felt something grabbing his feet under the water. He tried to kick whatever was holding him away but it was just pulling Cody harder. Then, it hit him. He knew what, or to be precise, _who was pulling his leg._

"T.K!"

Davis and Ken swam aside and T.K's head shot out of the water, gasping for breath. His face was pale and slightly red due to lack of air.

"You guys shouldn't have done that! He might have drowned!" Cody scolded Davis and Ken.

They both looked at each other and grinned again.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Davis asked.

Ken nodded. "Ready?"

Both of them turned to Cody. Cody moved back a little and eyed them suspiciously. "What are you both thinking about?" he asked nervously.

"GO!" Davis yelled and both he and Ken leapt onto Cody and pushed him down under the water.

"T.K, why are you smiling like that?" asked Ken.

T.K pointed behind them. Curious, both Davis and Ken turned around to see what was so interesting behind them. What they saw left them with a shocked expression of their face. Tai and Matt were right behind them, their hands gripped onto Davis and Ken's shoulders.

"This looks like fun," said Tai in a malicious manner.

"We want to join in the fun as well," said Matt darkly.

Davis forced a smile and asked, "What are you planning to do?"

"THIS!" both Tai and Matt shouted together and pushed Davis and Ken into the water, screaming. A second later Cody's head reappeared above the water, gasping for air.

All six of them continued to fool around in the water until about five-thirty in the evening, when Sora called for the boys to return to the beach house. Cody asked Sora whether she had seen Joe or Izzy, who hasn't shown up since Cody left them earlier on.

"Nope, I haven't seen them. Maybe they're already back up in the house," she said.

They walked back up to the beach house together. When they reached the door of the house, Tai caught sight of Joe and Izzy, who were also walking up to the house. They waited for the both of them outside the door.

"Where have you two been?" asked Cody.

"We were walking around, right Joe?" Izzy replied quickly, but Joe didn't answer. There was a blank look on his face. Izzy nudged Joe with his elbow, which brought him back into reality.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. We were just walking around," said Joe halfheartedly.

Everyone stared at the pair for a few moments before they all went into the house. After taking a shower they all sat around in the living room, either watching television or talking with one another about their first day at the beach. Izzy and Joe, however, were pretty quiet.

When it was almost eight o'clock, the girls started to cook dinner while the boys waited at the veranda behind the house. They had agreed that they would cook on shifts. The girls will cook for one day and the boys will take turn cooking for the next two days, and so on.

T.K and Matt leaned on the railing and enjoyed the sounds of the waves splashing against the shore. _It's so peaceful..., they both thought. Ken and Cody were still talking about how much fun they had today. Tai, Davis and Izzy brought out several chairs to the veranda for everyone._

Soon, everyone was enjoying his or her dinner on the veranda. Most of them continued to talk about what they were planning to do the next day. T.K tried to persuade the others to go surfing with him, while Yolei suggested that they go jet skiing. Her uncle has a jet ski they could use.

While they were arguing about what they wanted to do tomorrow, Joe suddenly got up and went back into the house. "I need to get something from my room," he told the others.

Joe slid the doors to the veranda close and slowly walked the stairs up to the second floor. For some reason, he felt nervous. His palm began to sweat. He reached out his hand and turned the doorknob of his room.

"I need to a drink," said Izzy as he left the veranda towards the kitchen. He slid the door open and close behind him.

A few seconds later, a loud scream could be heard from within the house. Those who were still outside on the veranda stopped their chat session and jumped onto their feet.

"That was Joe!" said Matt.

"We better go see what's the problem," said Kari.

The door suddenly slid open by itself. Izzy was behind the door, holding a glass of water, looking panicked.

"Did you guys hear that?"

"We did. Let's go check what has happened to him," said Davis, pushing Izzy aside a bit so that he could go through.

All of them hurried upstairs. Izzy entered the room he was supposed to share with Joe. Everyone was now crammed in the room. Everyone, except Joe, who was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did Joe go?!" Tai asked.

Kari bent down and picked up a piece of paper next to the bed. She began reading what was written on it.

"Oh no!" she gasped. Every single pair of eyes in the room was on Kari now.

Tai took the piece of paper away from Kari's grasp and began to read it out loud:

_The time has come,_

_The fruit has ripened,_

_What's done is done,_

_It has already happened._

_Joe, he is the pillar of reliability,_

_But who do u all rely when he is alone in the dark...,_

_I'll get you all so don't you worry,_

_This is just the beginning, you better wish for luck._

_This is for real, this is no test,_

_So tell me... Who's Next?_

Tai finished reading and looked up from the paper. Everyone turned pale. It seemed that something bad had happened to Joe... He was gone. Where did he go, and who brought him there?

**Please read and review! If you have found anything wrong with my fic, please tell me. Thanks for reading. ^_^**


	2. Isolated

_Thanks for all of your kind reviews!_

_Chapter 2 was reloaded to add some small parts here and there to better fit the coming chapter, and some parts were re-written a bit to make it look nicer... I hope... lol_

**Who's Next?**

**Chapter 2: Isolated**

All attentions were on Tai, who still held onto the piece of paper. His face was rather pale with shock, a drop of sweat formed on his forehead and flowed all the way down the side of his face, dripping on the paper. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he read it all over again in his mind, for the fifth time.

"Was Joe... kidnapped?" asked Sora, resting her right hand on Tai's shoulder.

Tai stared directly into her eyes, which was filled with concern for their friend. He did so for a few seconds, before he crumpled up the paper and stuffed it into one of his pockets as he made his way to the door.

"Come on. We have to search for Joe. Everyone split up and look for him now!" he ordered. "It would be a good idea if a few of you go and search outside as well. Also keep an eye for anything... anything at all... that might lead us to Joe or tell us what has happened to him."

Everyone scrambled out of the room and split up, each searching in different parts of the beach house. Tai went from room to room, checking under the beds, behind doors, inside the bathrooms, anywhere Joe might be. He opened all the closets, pushing aside all the cloths hanging in there recklessly. Once in a while he could hear the sounds of people running up and down the stairs, all around the house. He poked his head out of Matt and T.K's room and saw Yolei jogging to and fro in the hallways. He called Yolei up and asked her whether she had found anything that might lead them to Joe. Jogging in place, she shook her head and asked Tai the same question. Tai shook his head as well and continued his own search.

* * *

Ken and Sora ran around the living room, searching for any clues on the whereabouts of Joe. They both agreed that if someone had kidnapped Joe, they would have to get out of the house and there were two obvious exits they could think of which was through the front door and the back. However, since they were all at the veranda behind the house when Joe disappeared, the kidnapper-if there was one, would have went out through the front door. Sora pulled up the carpet and took a look underneath.

"Eww..." she said, fanning away the dust off her face with her hand.

The cellar door creaked open and a coughing Izzy stepped out of it. Sora saw him and asked if he found anything in the cellar.

"There's nothing down there except spiders, cobwebs and lots and lots of dust," he replied in between coughs while hitting his chest, trying to get out all the dust he breathed in. "Did I mention there were lots of dusts?"

* * *

In the kitchen, Davis raided the refrigerator while Cody walked around restlessly.

"Davis! We're supposed to be looking for Joe!" said Cody who obviously didn't like it when Davis took a bar of chocolates from the fridge and took a bite out of it.

"Well, I don't see him here. Do you?" Davis said as he took another bite of his chocolate bar. "I mean, I don't think he can hide in here. Besides, Izzy was in the kitchen when Joe disappeared, right? I'm sure Izzy would have seen something if Joe or anyone else came into the kitchen."

"I suppose you're right," Cody said in a low and disappointed tone and watched as Davis finished his chocolate. He took one final look around the place and saw an opened water container by the cups. He sighed and went over and took the container and closed its lid. "Izzy must have forgotten to close it back," he said.

* * *

Outside, three dark figures moved about. The one in the lead was holding a torchlight, which shone on the ground as they slowly walked around the house.

Matt turned around and pointed the torchlight in T.K's direction. "I don't think we'll find anything out here. Let's go back in and see if the others had better luck."

"I think we should keep looking, and will you please point that thing in another direction!" T.K yelled as he shielded his eyes from the torchlight with his hands.

"Why don't T.K and I continue while you go and check how the others are doing?" Kari, who was standing beside T.K, suggested.

"Fine with me," said Matt. "Here T.K, catch!"

Matt tossed the torchlight over and T.K, who was still slightly blinded, caught it although it almost dropped off his hands. T.K heaved a sigh of relief as Matt passed him on his way back to the house.

"Come on T.K. I think we should go a little further down towards the beach," said Kari and she started heading towards the beach area.

"Wait for me!" said T.K as he jogged up beside Kari.

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore was very soothing to Kari. Even though she knew she was supposed to look for Joe, she couldn't help but to feel relaxed, as she enjoyed the sounds of the ocean splashing on the beach. She started to imagine how perfect this scene would be if she didn't have Joe to worry about. She slowly let all of her worries to wash away with the sounds of the waves, feeling the cool breeze coming from the ocean... It would be just T.K and her, at the beach, together... alone... Just the two of them, none at all...

"No no no..." Kari thought as she shook her head. "I shouldn't be thinking about this right now," she told herself, continuing to walk on, with T.K on her right. "We have to look for Joe... who knows what has happened to him..."

A gust of wind caused Kari to shudder as they continued walking. She regretted not wearing her long-sleeved shirt like Tai had told her to. It was starting to get really cold. Kari suddenly felt something warm reaching across the back of her neck, and onto her left shoulder. It was T.K's hand. She blushed slightly as T.K pulled Kari closer, his hand holding firmly on her shoulder, as they walked further down the path they were taking.

Kari had always felt something for T.K, even though she never admitted it to anyone, not even to T.K or to her brother, Tai. They have been best friends since they were eight, but her feelings for T.K never came until the time they were needed back in the Digital World together with three other new digidestined. She didn't realize it at first, but her feelings grew deeper with time, especially when she was in the Dark Ocean. Kari often wondered whether T.K thought of her as more than best friends. There were times when T.K had told her that he cared about her, but she was never certain about it.

For T.K, Kari was the most wonderful girl he knows. Many girls were crazy about him and some of them were really good looking as well, but there was only one girl in the whole world he has on his mind and that girl is Kari. He had told her that he truly cared for her, but her reactions often suggested that she thought he was just teasing her.

T.K suddenly stopped walking and Kari looked up to see why. A few hundred feet in front of them was another beach house. It was similar to the one they were staying in, but this one looked deserted. It was then that T.K realized it was getting quite late. He had been so absorbed in his thought about Kari that he had forgotten all about Joe. T.K mentally kicked himself for it.

"I think we better turn around and head back. We've been gone for some time," said T.K, releasing his grip on Kari.

"Huh? Oh... I guess we should," said Kari, slightly disappointed that T.K had let go of her.

* * *

All ten teenagers sat on the sofa in the living room, none of them made the slightest sound. Each of them was lost in their own world of thoughts. There was a depressed look on each of their faces. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the soft tick tock sound of the grandfather clock, which stood next to the television. As the minute hand struck twelve, the grandfather clock began to chime twelve times.

"It's getting very late, everyone should go to bed now," said Tai after the last chime was heard.

Tai stood up and went up to Davis.

"Davis, I want you to stay with Izzy tonight," he said and he turned to face the others. "I want everyone to stay in pairs. We'll call the police first thing in the morning."

* * *

It was late at night. Davis couldn't tell what was the time but he guessed it was around three in the morning.

"What's that noise?" he thought sleepily.

Davis was having a nice dream where he was playing for the national team, representing Japan in the FIFA World Cup. He was just about to score the winning goal in the finals when he suddenly woke up. He tried to open his eyes to see what made him wake up from his wonderful dream, but they were just too heavy and tired, so he just tried to guess what was making that strange noise by listening to it again, but it had stopped. Too sleepy to wonder why the noise is gone, he tried to go back to sleep, hoping to continue where he left his dream.

He was just about to doze off when the annoying sound returned. He grunted in anger as he twist and turn in bed. That seemed to have worked, he thought, for the room was silent again. However, it didn't last long. It came back again right before Davis fell asleep. This was it. He forced his eyes open to see what has been keeping him awake. His eyes slowly fluttered open. There was a soft light coming from the desk in the room. He turned his head to the light and saw someone typing away on a laptop.

"Argh! Why is Izzy playing his computer games during this kind of hour? So that's what the strange sound that has been keeping me awake was... I would really love to beat him up right now..." Davis thought as he yawned. "But I think I'll wait until tomorrow for that... I'm just way too tired..."

Davis was so tired by now that even the typing sound couldn't bother him anymore. Soon, he was carried off on the shoulders of his teammates, with him holding the trophy of the World Cup champion...

* * *

"Good morning," said Davis, stretching his arms above his head as he entered the living room.

Everyone else was already awake and sitting together at the sofa. There was a grave look on everyone's faces.

"Have you guys made a police report about Joe missing yet?" Davis asked.

"Our cell phones aren't working. The signal here isn't strong enough for us to use them," said Yolei, pointing to several different cell phones on the table.

Davis scowled at the news.

"There's more," said Ken. "We just heard from on the news a few minutes ago that there had been a landslide on the road coming to this beach."

"That means we're stuck here until they can clear up the road, which may take up to a few days," said T.K.

"Well, I guess I'll go make some breakfast for everyone. After that we can check out around the beach and hopefully, we will find Joe," said Sora as she got up and entered the kitchen.

* * *

It was almost noon. The group had split up into groups of two to scout the beach, and Izzy was paired with Cody. Izzy trailed behind Cody as they walked by the shore.

"Izzy," said Cody, turning around and looked Izzy straight in the eye. "What exactly did you tell Joe yesterday?" he asked suspiciously.

"What? No-nothing..." Izzy replied rather quickly.

"Come on, Izzy... Please tell me. I have a feeling that what you told him has something to do with his disappearance," said Cody, still looking straight into Izzy's eyes.

Izzy sighed. "If you insist... You see, before we came here, I found out that..."

* * *

A few hours later everyone was back at the beach house empty handed. No one had found anything that might lead to Joe at all, not even a single clue. Feeling tired and hungry, each of them made some sandwiches to eat.

Cody had a solemn look on his face as he chewed up his sandwich. The others were already halfway finished with their sandwiches but Cody had just finished a few bites.

"Cody, I know you're worried about Joe. We all are, but you still need to eat," said Sora, looking at Cody.

"I need some fresh air, excuse me," said Cody as he quickly stood up and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Sora was about to go after Cody when Matt stopped her. "Let him be alone for a while."

Sora sat down and continued to finish her sandwich, but even after they all had finished theirs, Cody still hasn't came back yet. Worried, Sora decided to go and look up on Cody. She came out of the dining room and headed for the door. She was about to turn the doorknob open when she caught a piece of paper under the door. Curious, she picked it up and read it:

The sands of time kept on flowing,

Waiting for no one, into the sea of infinity,

Once again I have claimed a victim,

One of knowledge and of reliability,

You can try to find me thought your chances are slim,

Who's Next? We'll just wait and see...

"Oh no!" she screamed, causing everyone in the dining room to rush out. "They've got Cody!"

"Quickly, everyone! He might still be around here!" Tai yelled as they rushed out, hoping to find Cody before he too disappeared like Joe.

Davis was behind everyone else and he thought to himself, trying his best to hide his suspicion as he kept an eye on someone. "It might be him. He is the most obvious suspect… Izzy!"

_Sorry Chapter 2 took so long to finish. I hope you guys are happy with it. Please read and review! If you have found anything wrong with my fic, please tell me. Thanks for reading. ^_^_


	3. Misled Path

_A/N: I've finally decided to return to continue on this series after re-reading some of the reviews that had been posted. There will be some changes from the original idea of the story, although it will mostly stay on the same path. For those who had waited for years, and for those who are new, I hope you'll enjoy the continuation of the story… Try and see if you can make a guess, before the end of the chapter, __**Who's Next?**_

**Chapter 3: Misled Path**

Davis kept an eye on Izzy the whole time they were running around the beach. He knew Izzy probably had something to do with the disappearances, although he wasn't sure what. Cody had been paired together with Izzy searching for Joe just hours ago. It was the same yesterday – Izzy and Joe were on their own while the rest of the gang were fooling about.

On top of that, both Joe and Cody acted a bit weird after they came back with Izzy. _Even Izzy had been acting a bit weird himself.. and what about last night, he was on his lapto…_

A bulb lighted in his brain.

_Of course! His laptop! There must be something there! I'm a genius, _he cackled to himself.

"Hey, Tai!"

Tai, who had been leading their group of 3, turned his head around. "What's up? Did you notice anything?"

"Uhm, no…," David replied sheepishly, one hand behind his head and the other rubbing his stomach. "Actually, I'm not feeling too well so I'm gonna head back first and rejoin you as soon as I can."

Tai stared at Davis for a while and sighed. "Only you can get a stomach ache at a time like this. Hurry up, then. And check with Sora if they've had any luck back at the villa."

"Will do!" said Davis as he turned around and started running back towards the villa.

* * *

"Something about this doesn't feel right," said Matt. "I think Tai felt it too."

"What do you mean?" said T.K. Both him and Kari trailed beside Matt, walking in the other direction of the beach.

"I can't really say for sure, but it's like we're being played for fools and one of us knows more than we're letting on."

"You mean, the culprit is among us?" asked Kari.

"Can't say for sure. But when I find the one behind this…" he raised one of his hand and gripped it into a tight fist.

"Oh, it's the house we saw last night," said Kari.

"Ah, that's right!" T.K. popped his right fist onto his left palm. "This was the same direction we were searching for Joe."

It was easier to make out the details of this second villa under the light of day. Just as T.K. and Kari had seen the night before, it wasn't really well maintained, making it look as if it had been abandoned. The white paint had mostly been chipped away, some of its windows were boarded up from the outside and even one of the front steps were clearly broken.

Matt frowned. "Why didn't any of you mentioned this earlier. Joe and Cody could have been taken in there."

T.K. quickly turned his gaze away and clasped his hands behind him as he started to blow a soundless whistle while Kari looked down, holding her hands together near her chest. Both of them could feel their ears getting hot - they knew exactly why they had so quickly forgotten about a potentially crucial clue to find their friends, but were too embarassed to admit it.

Fortunately for them, Matt didn't notice their sudden awkward behaviour and instead headed straight towards the forebodding villa.

* * *

"Davis, why are you in such a rush!" Sora cried out.

"Sorry, this is an emergency!" said Davis as he hopped up the stairs two at a time. He had almost knocked Sora over when she opened the door for him, but he didn't have time to stop and explain or apologise right now.

He burst into the room where he and Izzy were sleeping in and rummaged through Izzy's side of the room.

_Ahh.. there you are._ He found what he was looking for under Izzy's pillow – his brand new Pineapple laptop.

Davis quickly flipped up the monitor and turned it on. As the laptop made a familiar whizzing noise, Davis head footsteps walking up to the room. He froze up. _It couldn't be Izzy, could it? Did he realized what I was planning to do?_

He slowly turned around and gulped, the sweat from his running dripping onto the floor, missing the laptop by inches. But it wasn't Izzy who showed up, it was Sora.

"Davis, would yo-," she paused as she saw what Davis was doing. "Why are you playing with Izzy's laptop?"

"Uh.. I.. uh…," he started rolling his eyes all over the room. "Oh, Izzy asked me to hurry back and check for something on his laptop. He said it might be a clue. Heh heh.."

Sora folded her arms, looking unconvinced, but said, "Let's see what you have."

_Safe! _Davis thought as he released his breath.

He returned his attention to the laptop as Sora knelt down beside him. But what he saw next was not something he had prepared for.

* * *

"First Joe, then Cody. This is getting weird," said Ken.

"I just hope nothing bad has happened," said Yolei as she put down a tray on the table. She took the first glass of iced water and placed it in front of Ken before taking the second and taking a sip.

"I can't really figure it out," said Ken. He took his glass of water in his hands but did not drink it. "Did some Digimon escaped the Digital World? An old enemy looking for revenge?"

"But it was sealed – "

"And it had been broken numerous times as well," Ken returned his drink on the table.

"If it did, we would have known by now. Hawkman, Wormmon, even Gennai would have contacted us."

"Maybe something happened that prevented that."

"Or maybe it didn't." She moved closer to Ken and held his hands in her own. "I trust them. If something happened, they would let us know no matter what. And I want you to trust me."

It took a few seconds before Ken's face flushed red. His lips slowly parted, but before any words could leave his mouth, a loud rumble came from above and both Ken and Yolei quickly pulled their hands back on their knees.

* * *

"What do you mean Izzy didn't really asked you to check out his laptop!" Sora chased Davis down the stairs. She jumped down from the side before Davis could reach the bottom and blocked his only escape path.

"L-like I said, I just felt like playing some games to release some stress!"

"And what were you planning to do even if you did have his password? Play with me watching by your side, trying to convince me that will somehow help us figure something out?"

_Woah… I can see flames in her eyes…_

"I said I'm sorryyyyy!" he dropped to his knees and put his palms together above his head. "Please just don't tell Izzy about it!"

Sora snorted. "Give me one good reason not to."

"I'll do whatever you want, anything at all!" Davis was practically groveling by now. He could just actually confess and tell Sora the truth, but he didn't really want to accuse any of his own friends without any hard evidence. _It's better this way…_

Sora put a finger to her lips, thinking. "Fine," she said. "I'll make sure to make use of your kind assistance to the best of my ability in the near future," she voiced each word slowly, a dark and almost evil aura eminating from her back.

_I'm gonna kill Izzy for this one day…_

* * *

Since Davis left them, Tai and Izzy continued to walk almost aimlessly without any luck. They had walked quite far that they could see nothing familiar, yet the beach still stretched on for as far as they could make out.

"This is kind of pointless. It's endless," said Tai. He stretched his arms upwards and twisted his neck to the side, producing a few cracking sounds. "Let's head back. Doesn't look like Davis will catch up anytime soon as well."

"Yeah, I guess. The heat is getting to me," Izzy wiped his forehead with his arm and find it drenched with his own sweat. He shook his arm and wiped it with his left hand.

They made their way back without any conversation. The whole time Tai had his hands held behind his head while Izzy just looked down and dispirited. It wasn't until when they could see their villa did Tai finally broke the silence.

"I know, you know," he said.

"Huh? W-what are you talking about?" Izzy replied nervously.

Tai glanced over to Izzy with a sharp, but non-threatening look. "You were alone with Joe before he disappeared. The same thing happened with Cody. I know Davis have his own suspicion about you and that's why he left."

"I don't understand," Izzy tried to force a smile.

"I was hoping that by being alone with you, I'll find out what exactly happened when Joe or Cody did the same. But you hardly spoke the whole time. You're not exactly the talkative type so the others probably didn't take notice, but it really isn't like you at all." Tai did a full turn and faced Izzy, this time with a serious expression. "Izzy, what are you hiding? Is there something we… I… should know about?"

Izzy bit his lower lips, his eyes darting back and forth, but never on Tai.

"Izzy!"

Izzy sighed. "Fine… I can't do this anymore…"

* * *

"There's no way to get inside," said Matt.

"We can't see what's inside, either," T.K. added as he tried to peer in a black window for the tenth time. "It's pitch black, there could be a board or a curtain right behind all the windows."

"I don't think anyone has been here for ages," Kari touched one of the wooden pillars near the entrance of the house. Wooden flakes fell from the chipped parts of the pillar as she gave it a light push. "I don't even know if it's safe to stay in this place. It looks like it might fall apart any moment."

T.K. grabbed Kari by her shoulders, who gave out a soft squeak, and dragged her out from under the roof. "We should leave. All the entrances are sealed and there's not sign of anyone entering or leaving this place. It could be dangerous to keep poking around."

Matt took a deep breath and without warning kicked the door as hard as he could, causing the structure to shake a little.

"MATT!" T.K. cried out, his heart skipped a beat fearing for his brother's safety.

More dusts and flakes snowed down on Matt, but other than that there were no signs of the building coming down on the older blonde.

T.K. let out a sigh of relief, but immediately took a harsh tone. "What in the world were you thinking!?"

"Tch!"

Matt put both hands in his pocket and walked away. "Let's go."

* * *

Tai gaped at what Izzy just told him. He had some pretty wild theories in his mind, but that was totally out of his expectations, yet he had a feeling that Izzy was telling the truth. He scrunched his eyebrows as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"We need to keep this to ourselves, at least for now," he said. "Davis is probably the only one who's watching out for you, but I doubt he'll act without evidence. For now, try not to be too conspicuous. You must have done something to get his attention, so you're definitely doing something out of the norm."

"But, I just – "

"Don't worry about it!" Tai cut in with a smile. "I'll do what I can too."

For the first time since they've arrived, Tai saw Izzy looking at ease. He figured a huge load has been taken off Izzy's shoulders. _But it probably won't last long,_he thought.

* * *

Davis found it hard to keep his eyelids up. He was exhausted from running around the whole day and maybe he had had a little too much for dinner, which he had helped Ken and Izzy prepare. His own turn to cook was supposed to be the next day, but he swapped with Tai just so he could continue keeping an eye on his suspect. Of course, he told Tai that he wanted to make up for totally bailing out on them earlier.

Everyone sat in the living room without much conversation, except Sora and Yolei, who were busy washing the dishes in the kitchen. Even after Sora and Yolei joined them, they did nothing except moping around, occasionally picking up one of the cell phones sprawled across the table, checking to see if somehow one of them had miraculously picked up signal so they could call for help but with no luck.

_Tick, tock, _the grandfather clock's rythmic, almost trancelike sound was lulling Davis to sleep. He rubbed his eyes and stole a glance towards Izzy. He blinked once. Then twice.

Something ticked in his mind. Tai, who was just next to Izzy, had disappeared in a blink of an eye. He suddenly jumped up, surprising everyone in the room. "Where's Tai!?" his voice anxious.

"Uh.. he went to the toilet, he said so himself?" said Yolei.

"Huh? When?" he asked.

"About 5 minutes ago," said Matt. "You probably didn't realize it since you fell asleep. We could hear you snoring a little."

Davis's heart raced. Something was not right. Then, a horrifying realization hit him. _Wait a minute… Tai was with Izzy… alone…_

His jaw dropped. _**I left them alone…**_

"Come to think of it," said T.K. "Isn't Tai taking an awfully long time?"

"You don't think…" Kari trailed off.

Davis rushed towards the kitchen area where the toilet was located and the rest followed suit. He came to a screeching halt right in front of the toilet and found the door slightly ajar.

"Tai!" he called out as he pushed the door open in a hurry, but the toilet was dark and empty. Davis cursed under his breath and reached for the sliding door for the back veranda and forcefully pushed it aside while he moved.

But just as he took a step forward he ran into someone else.

"Ow, what's all the commotion about?" Tai moved a few steps backwards after Davis ran into him.

Davis steadied himself and looked at Tai. "T-Tai… you're still here…"

Tai raised an eyebrow. "What did you expect? Did you think I had become a victim and disappeared too?" He started to laugh, "There's no way anyone can get the best of the great Taichi Yagami!"

Davis slumped his shoulders. "Oh man, don't scare me like that. I really did thought you were gone."

Tai continued to laugh and slapped Davis on the shoulder repeatedly. "No worries, man. I just came out for a little air, and to see if there was anyone lurking about."

Davis hung his head. "I think I'm just a little worn out. Maybe we should all get an early – "

Something caught Davis's attention. Stuck just outside the sliding doors was a small note. He pushed Tai aside and picked it up.

_With a gleeful smile, to a tune you danced,_

_As the hour hand struck the clock sang along,_

_Yet another victim I have chanced,_

_For the Kaiser is gone, Kindness, so long,_

_You thought you were clever,_

_You thought you've had me figured out,_

_But still i shall take you all before the summer is over,_

_Can you guess __**Who's Next**__ in our coming bout?_

Davis looked up. "Where's Ken?"


	4. After the End

**Chapter 4: After the End**

Davis searched the faces of those standing in front of him. "Where's Ken?" he asked again, his voice slightly trembling.

Heads turned as everyone looked at each other, not immediately realizing what just happened. Tai snatched the note from Davis and his eyes darted back and forth, reading and taking in the meaning of what was written on it. He read it out loud once, then another time, quicker.

"We've got to look for him!" said Kari, holding her hands close to her chest.

"Let's split into 3 groups," T.K. said right after. He and Davis were prepared to dash out when Tai held a hand up to stop them.

"No."

Tai's response seemed to shock everyone except Matt.

"But why? If we hurry we might be able to find him before the culprit gets away," Sora protested.

"No, Tai is right," said Matt. "We couldn't find Joe even when we went to search immediately, and even Cody was nowhere to be found after all our efforts. In fact, it may even be the culprit's intention to keep splitting us up like this."

"We have to calm down and think this through," said Tai as he folded up the paper and shoved it into his pocket. "Let's head back to the living room and we'll start from there."

Tai led the group back to the main area of the villa. Tai sat down on the single sofa while Sora and Kari took the double seater, Yolei curled up on the floor with her back against the same sofa in between the two other girls. T.K. sat opposite them and Izzy slumped down on the floor with his head on the table while Davis sat on the opposite end, which was right next to Tai. Matt chose not to sit but just leaned against the wall where everyone except Tai and Davis could see him.

Tai could tell they were all nervous and upset at the same time. Sora looked calm but he knew she was probably the most frustrated out of them all. He would know, they've been best friends for as long as he could remember.

He knew Kari was feeling very uneasy, too. Her hands were fidgeting and she occasionally bit her lower lips. She was the opposite of her usual cheery self now, but there was nothing he could do and he felt helpless for it.

But he knew it wasn't time to be wallowing. Everyone in front of him looked restless, and he knew Matt felt the same, even if he hid it. Given the green light, they would all burst out the door and scour the beach again.

He took a deep breath and clapped his hands on his thighs, getting everyone's attention. "Right," he said, leaning forward. "When was the last time anyone saw Ken?"

"He was here with us the whole time as far as I could remember," said Sora, looking distressed. "I didn't even notice he was gone until Davis asked…"

"Same here," Kari's voice was soft.

"Tai, did you notice if he was still here when you got up to the toilet?" asked Matt.

Tai shook his head in response. "I felt like I did see him, but I can't be too sure."

"But why would he suddenly leave without telling anyone?" asked T.K. "It's kinda odd, don't you think?"

"Maybe he went to the toilet, too?" said Matt. "He might have gotten up after Tai and went to the toilet upstairs. If he thought we saw him went after Tai, we'd probably knew where he was going."

"Then shouldn't we at least check upstairs?" Kari stood up suddenly and stared at her brother for a response.

Tai looked at her for a moment before nodding. It was probably pointless, but he thought it might be a good idea for her to do something. His sister was the type who couldn't sit still when others are in trouble after all. "Sora, could you follow her and do a quick check? T.K., you too. It should be safe if it's just upstairs, but just in case."

Both got up without a word and together with Kari made their way upstairs while the rest continued to brood over Ken's disappearance.

* * *

T.K. led the way up the stairs while Kari and Sora trailed behind him. He was somewhat afraid of what they might find, or in this case, what they might not find. It would be best if they found their friend loitering upstairs and that the mysterious message this time was a fake, but he knew that would be being too optimistic. At the very least, he hoped, they would be able to find some sort of clue.

Tai and Matt weren't the only ones who thought this entire case was weird. He too had felt something was wrong since the first disappearance. There were too many questions that they can't seem to find an answer to; how did their friends get kidnapped one by one, who is the culprit and where are they all now?

He realized that all 3 victims so far were far from being capable of defending themselves, but they should have been able to put up some sort of resistance against their kidnapper. It doesn't make sense then, how they had rushed to look for Joe right after hearing him scream, but were unable to find a single trace of him or anyone else. It was like they completely disappeared into thin air.

T.K. shook his head. _There __must be__ something else, there has __to be__… We're missing something…_

"T.K., are you ok?"

A hand grabbed his shoulders from behind, jolting him from his deep thought. "Huh? Kari? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just got a little too deep in my thoughts, that's all." T.K. forced a smile, scratching the back of his head.

"Anyway, the toilet's empty," said Sora. "Let's go through the rooms quickly."

T.K. nodded. He hadn't realized that Sora had went ahead of him. _Guess no use thinking about it too much, gotta focus on what needs __to be__ done now._

All the rooms turned out empty as T.K. feared. He could tell that Kari and Sora felt the same way he did. It was like clinging on to false hope. _Hope… hah!_

_But it will be the end if I , of all people, lose hope now. Gotta stay strong, we'll definitely figure something out._

Making their way back downstairs, they suddenly heard Davis's voice shouting.

* * *

"Izzy!"

Izzy jumped when Davis suddenly slammed the table and shouted his name. He glanced across the table and saw Davis pointing his finger at him.

_I was afraid of this…_

"Izzy!" Davis shouted again. "You know something about this, don't you?"

"What's going on?" Sora was the first to appear from the stairs, looking confused and worried at the same time.

"Don't you guys find it odd?" said Davis. "Joe and Cody went missing right after they were left alone with Izzy. And Izzy has been acting suspiciously since the start of the trip as well. He knows something we don't. He must be hiding something from us!"

"Davis…" Tai frowned.

"I don't see how that makes Izzy suspicious," said Matt. "Besides, Izzy spent most of the day with you and Tai today, and it was Ken who disappeared this time. Was he ever alone with Izzy today?"

Yolei shook her head. Izzy tried to make out her expression but her face was mostly hidden under the shadows of her bangs. His brows furrowed.

"Both Joe and Cody also acted weird after they were alone with him, and then both disappeared soon after. It's just too much of a coincidence!" Davis raised his voice even higher. He gritted his teeth and banged the table with a fist. "Izzy, say something!"

Izzy did not respond, instead he casted his eyes downwards and looked away.

"Damnit!" Davis pushed himself up, stomped over, grabbed Izzy by his collars and pulled him up. "What in the world did you do to them…"

Izzy could feel Davis breathing down on his face but he still refused to look at him directly. He could hear the others moving, and within seconds, someone had pushed both him and Davis apart.

"That's enough, guys."

"But, Tai!"

"I said, enough." Tai sighed. "Sorry, Izzy. I think we should just tell them what you told me earlier."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "You mean Izzy really was hiding something from us?"

"I guess you could put it that way…"

Matt glared at Tai. "And you knew about it…"

"I really didn't think it was such a big deal," Tai said sheepishly. "I forced it out of him, but I can see why he's reluctant to say anything."

"Well, what is it?" Davis pulled on his shirt to straighten it up.

Izzy continued to keep quiet. He could tell that his silence had continued to tick Davis off, but he really could not bring himself to talk. Even if he tried, he would probably mess it all up.

"Izzy, what's wrong?" concern filled Sora's words. "This really isn't like you at all."

"Ah, well, you see," said Tai. "Right before we came, Izzy actually went ahead and did some research on the beach here. He was probably too excited about the trip and wanted to see what kind of place this is."

Izzy felt a hand on his shoulders. Even without looking he could tell it belonged to Tai.

"Let's just say… he got more than he bargained for…"

"What do you mean?" said Davis.

"Ghosts…" said Tai hauntingly. "There's been strange sightings of ghosts roaming around the beach at night."

"G-ghosts?" Sora sounded like she almost squeaked her words out.

"I really didn't know Izzy was afraid of ghosts, and it kinda creeped him out so he was talking to Joe about it," Tai continued. "When Joe suddenly disappeared last night, he started to freak out. He told Cody about it next then he too became a victim. It took me a while to get him to spill the beans."

"You're joking, right?"

"It's the truth, Davis."

"That's just ridiculous!" Davis cried.

"Davis!" Kari pulled him aside. "Maybe that's why he was so reluctant to talk about it, because it sounded silly," she said in a soft voice, but Izzy could still make out most of what was said.

"Besides, I don't think Izzy will lie to my brother. Now stop making a fuss about it, can't you see Izzy's really upset?"

Davis drooped his head for a few moments. "I.. I'm sorry Izzy."

But Izzy continued to be unresponsive, and the room fell awkwardly silent.

* * *

Matt finally moved from his position, put one hand in his jean pocket and said, "The other house, the one that looked abandoned. Let's go check it out again, right now."

He then explained to the rest of the group about the abandoned villa T.K. and Kari had seen the night before, drawing some frowns and raised eyebrows.

"But we already looked earlier," said T.K. "There was nothing there, we couldn't find anyway to get in and the place looked like it could fall apart any moment."

"And after hearing Izzy's story, I'm beginning to think that there really is something there," said Matt. "It's still the most suspicious looking place we've found and if ghosts are involved, it probably came from there."

"Matt! Stop talking as if these ghosts are real!"

Matt could hear a slight tremble in Sora's voice. _Don't tell me now she's getting freaked out by that too._

"I say we should go and check out the place again now, together," he said.

Tai shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea to bring Yolei with us." He motioned towards her.

She was still curled up, hair over her face and she hadn't really said anything at all. Tai leaned towards Matt and whispered into his ears. "I think Ken's disappearance hit her quite hard."

Matt nodded in response.

Tai cleared his throat. "Anyway, I think it's a good idea to check out this other place you've mentioned, but we'll have Yolei and Kari wait here to hold the fort."

Izzy finally took his eyes off the floor and said something for the first time that night. "I-I have to go, t-too?"

"We can't leave Kari and Yolei here alone, it could be dangerous!" said T.K. at the same time.

Tai rolled his eyes. "Yes Izzy, you're coming with us. And don't worry T.K., they'll be fine."

"B-but!" T.K. continued to protest, but stopped when he saw a glare from not only Tai, but Sora too.

"It's okay, we'll be fine," said Kari as she knelt beside Yolei. "You guys go ahead, but be careful."

Tai and Matt did a quick round to make sure that all the doors and windows were securely locked before giving the word to head out. T.K. continued to be hesitant, but Tai grabbed his wrist and pulled him along.

"Don't worry," he said once they were outside. "Kari's strong, you should already know that by now."

"And right now Yolei probably needs some time alone with someone she can really talk to," said Sora who appeared by his side. "Having a third person there would make it hard. I wish I could help too, but having someone closer to your own age is probably better."

"But –"

Matt smacked the back of his head before he could continue objecting.

"Ow! What was that for!?"

"Just shut up and keep walking," he said. "Besides, it's probably more dangerous where we're going. If you think about it that way, isn't it better for those two to stay behind?"

Matt watched as his words sank into T.K. as he finally stopped protesting and followed Tai's lead quietly.

* * *

Tai rubbed his eyes. "Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" His mouth hung open as he stared at a floating light moving about from behind the windows of the abandoned villa's upper floor. It danced around behind one window for a few moments before jumping to the next.

"Ghosts!"

Tai felt a rush of blood to his head as Sora grabbed his arm. He gulped. He had to admit, he was kinda enjoying it, but as the light jumped about from window to window, Sora's grip tightened and Tai grimaced as he felt as if his arms were about get squashed into pulp.

"Sora… you're… hurting… me…"

Sora quickly let go without saying anything, leaving Tai feeling both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

"So, there really is something in there," Matt chuckled. "As I thought, this place really is suspicious."

"You really think there are… ghosts in there?" even Davis gulped.

"Don't be silly," said Matt. "Whatever that is, it's not made by ghosts."

"Then what is it?" said Davis.

"That," he replied, "is what we're about to find out."

Matt walked ahead and up to the door, placing his hands on the doorknob. He had already tried this earlier but the doorknob wouldn't turn, a fact that his younger sibling is now trying to remind him. He gripped the knob, not paying any attention to T.K. right behind him, and turned.

"What do you know, looks like we're invited in," he chuckled again. The door drifted open lazily with a soft push, but the inside was so dark it was impossible to see anything. "Shall we?"

They walked in one by one after Matt. He shut his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again, trying to get his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He could start to make out a few shapes around them.

Izzy, following right behind Davis, was the last who entered.

And the door slammed shut.

* * *

"Not good. Door's shut tight," Davis said as he tried to push the door open.

Matt pushed Davis aside and took a deep breath, but before he could do anything else T.K. grabbed him from behind. "No kicking! Not while we're in here."

Matt shook himself free. "I'm not an idiot." He grabbed the knob with both hands and with a grunt tried to turn it without luck.

"What do we do now?" asked Sora.

"We came here to investigate, so let's investigate," said Tai. "Izzy, you ok? Sora?"

Izzy nodded. "Yeah."

Sora coughed. "There's too much dust floating around. Doesn't seem like anyone's been here for ages." She held herself tightly and took a look around, her eyes had already adjusted and could now see what was inside. It was quite similar to their own villa, but everything was covered with sheets.

"But we definitely saw lights upstairs," said Tai. "It's time to find out once and for all what is going on around here."

"C-can I stay and wait here?" Izzy suddenly said when they were at the bottom of the stairs.

"Come on, don't tell me you're really afraid of ghosts, are you?" Davis teased, although his voice sounded quivered a little at the end.

"So what if I am?" Izzy sounded flustered.

"Uhm, I can stay with him here. We could guard the stairs to make sure no one comes down," Sora quipped in. She was exactly enthusiastic about finding out what's upstairs. She knew what she said might actually happen, but it the chances of meeting it, whatever _it_ is, is higher if she went up with the group. She'd rather take the risk waiting with Izzy.

"Fine," Tai sighed. "Just scream if you see or hear anything suspicious."

"I'm not going to scream!" she shouted softly.

She watched as the rest of the boys went up the stairs, losing sight of them as they turned the corner mid-way. She dropped herself down on the stairs next to Izzy.

Sora scratched her head wildly with her hands, the feeling of frustration filling her up. "Why is this happening to us…"

No response.

"Izzyyyy," she said in a disheartened tone, rolling her head.

_… Is he… asleep?_

Izzy's head was leaning against the wall, his eyes were closed and his mouth slightly opened. Sora could hear his steady breathing.

_Poor guy… he __must be__ the most exhausted out of all of us… Davis even accused him, he's probably already at his limit._

Watching one of her closest friend at ease had somehow managed to calm her own feelings too, and she genuinely smiled for the first time since the fiasco began.

* * *

"This is probably the room where we saw the light coming from." Tai stopped in front of a door. "Shall we?"

T.K. reached his hands to the doorknob, but let it go again.

"What's wrong?" asked Matt.

T.K. rubbed his thumb and fingers together. "There's no dust."

"What do you mean?" asked Davis.

"The doorknob, it isn't dusty like everything else here," he said.

Tai scowled. "That means someone was here, and could still be behind this door."

Matt slid in between T.K. and Tai and without warning opened the door, revealing a spacious looking room. There were 3 windows and the light from the moon outside shone in through each of them, washing the room with a soft purplish hue. The curtain on the right most window fluttered slightly, the window was slightly ajar.

They carefully entered the room and eyed their surroundings. There was a 4-post bed draped with a thin cloth, complete with 2 pillows.

T.K. went up to the right window and pushed it all the way open, welcoming the gentle breeze that took away the stuffiness in his lungs. He peeped out and took a look around. "This was definitely where we saw the light."

"But there's nothing here," said Davis as he examined the desk on the opposite side of the room. "There are still dusts everywhere here, are you sure the doorknob was clean?"

"Yeah," said T.K.

"Hey, you don't think…"

"Don't tell me you're starting to buy this crap about ghosts too, Davis," Matt stopped him halfway.

"There's no other explanation," said Davis, puffing his face.

"Someone might have just came in for a look," said Tai. "If they didn't touch anything else in here then only the door would have been touched."

"Ah, that makes sense."

* * *

Sora's head leaned forward, lower and lower, until she suddenly jolted back up straight. She touched the corner of the lips, it was slightly wet. It took her a few seconds before she realized it was drool and she quickly wiped it away. Tensed, she slowly turned to her left and saw Izzy was still asleep.

_Phew… _

She stretched her hands upwards, her fingers interlocked. _I must have dozed off… Guess I'm pretty worn out too, __eh__?_

She looked back up the stairs. _Doesn't seem like the boys are back yet. _

"Pssst…"

The hair on her back suddenly stood. She turned her head left and right.

"Over here," came a soft, barely inaudible voice.

Sora got up and peered over the railings of the stairs. "Tai?"

She slowly walked down two steps, arriving at the base of the stairs, then turned, staring into the empty house. "Is that you?"

Light appeared from under a door that was beneath the stairway. She heard a creaking sound as the doorknob turned and pushed opened slightly. More light shone out but she could not see who or what opened the door. She took a step back and gulped.

"Sora, here, hurry!" came the hushed voice again.

Sora's eyes grew wide. _Is that…_

She headed towards the opened door…

* * *

"This one's locked." Matt tried turning the knob a few more times.

Davis yawned. "Oh man, I'm starting to feel really tired again… What time is it?"

"It's almost 1am," said T.K. "We can check out the next room before coming back to this one. Maybe we'll find a key."

"What about the last 2 rooms, were there any keys?" asked Tai.

Davis shook his head. "I checked the desks and drawers, nothing there."

"Hey, guys," a sleepy sounding voice interrupted them as Izzy walked into view, rubbing his eyes. "Why did Sora leave me alone down there?"

"What are you talking about, Sora isn't…" Davis trailed off.

"Oh crap!" Tai rushed off and almost knocked Izzy over as he went pass.

Matt and Davis took after Tai while Izzy, who still looked confused, stood by himself in the hallway. Just as Izzy had said, there wasn't anyone else below. Sora was nowhere in sight.

Tai slammed his fist on the wall. "Damnit!"

Then Davis noticed something, a soft glow. "What's that?" he said, pointing to the door under the stairs.

The glow was soft and was hard to see even in the dark room, but it was without a doubt, light. Tai put a finger to his lips, signaling them to keep quiet as they slowly tiptoed over to the door. With a nod from the rest, Tai grabbed the door handle and pulled.

It was a small storage room, oddly shaped since it was under a flight of steps. It was mostly empty except for a few small boxes at the far end, plenty of cobwebs, and in the middle was a single lit candle on a silver candle cup. A square note lay under it.

_A midnight chase,_

_To one with grace;_

_From under your nose;_

_O' Love, one pretty as a rose;_

_Maybe I will give it up a kick,_

_By showing you another trick;_

_Before the light was up this morning,_

_**Who's Next**__, who shall you be mourning?_

Tai scrunched the piece of paper in his fist and slammed them on the floor. He continued pounding the floor as hard as he could. "Why did we leave them alone," he cried. "I should have stayed with them!"

Davis looked away, clenching his fist. Then it dawned on him – Sora was with Izzy. _Izzy… Izzy!_

He dashed off and practically jumped up the stairs. With a last lunge he landed at upper floor with a loud thud. He got up and slowly walked towards Izzy, who was standing in front of the locked room they had tried to enter.

"It was you after all, wasn't it?" Davis cracked his knuckles. "I'm gonna get the truth out of you right now."

Davis took a few more steps forward, but Izzy still looked like he didn't know what was going on.

_Click!_

A sudden sound from behind the locked door caught both their attention. The knob turned and the door pushed wide open. Davis stopped in his tracks. He watched in horror as a pair of black hands reached out, grabbed Izzy by his shoulders and without warning, pulled him in. The door started to close.

Coming back to his senses, Davis ran over and tried to grab the handle, but he had missed by inches. The door slammed shut and another click could be heard. Davis turned the doorknob furiously but it was locked once again.

"Izzy!" he called over and over as he banged the door. "Can you hear me!?"

"Davis, what's going on?"

"Matt!" Davis was startled when he heard his name called out. He turned his head while his hands kept on trying to open the door. "Izzy, he… I just saw him being pulled into this room!"

"Isn't that the locked room?"

"Yeah," Davis continued to try forcing the door open. "It suddenly opened and someone dragged him in and it's now locked again. Help me!"

"I've got a better idea," said Matt, rushing into the room next door.

Confused, Davis gave the door another kick and ran in after Matt.

* * *

This was the second room they had checked, which only had an empty cupboard, drawer and a small bed. Matt pushed one of the windows open and hopped on to the sill. Realizing what Matt was doing, he quickly did the same thing and they both carefully walked over the roof tiles to where a window to the locked room was.

Much to his chagrin, one of the windows was pushed out. He hurried over and looked into the room. Empty.

"We're too late," he got down and touched some of the tiles. "The room is empty and there are some dust and grainy bits of sand around here. It looks like they got out through the window and escaped."

He caught sight of something white partially hidden under one of the tiles. He reached over and pulled it out.

_Here's a sudden impulsive thought,_

_Maybe even a clue to this crazy plot;_

_So I might as well continue,_

_With the one next in queue;_

_Just to pass you this message,_

_I have taken your one true Knowledge;_

_Without whom you're not so wise,_

_Can't tell the truth among the lies;_

_What you see in what you get,_

_Interested to find out __**Who's Next?**_

_Tch__!_

Matt got up. "Let's grab Tai and T.K., then head back for now."

"What about Sora and Izzy?"

"They're probably not here anymore, but we'll come back and double-check when the sun is up."

"The door is locked," said Davis.

"We'll use the windows, break it open if we have too. The door might be difficult but it should be easy to get the windows with a chair or something. I'm pretty sure I saw a sheet that looked like it was covering a chair downstairs. We'll be able to get back in too. Come, let's go."

* * *

The grandfather clock had just chimed twice, indicating that it was already 2 in the morning. Kari had been yawning but the knock on the door caused to suddenly become alert. Trying not to make a sound, she crept over to the door but was relieved when she heard T.K.'s voice calling for her to open the door.

She was not expecting to see what she saw. Her brother looking weak and down, while T.K., Matt and Davis all had weary looks on their face.

"Where's Sora and Izzy?" she asked.

Tai twitched at the question but did not respond or looked at her. Her stomach twisted as she asked the same question a second time. "Where's Sora and Izzy?"

She searched T.K.'s face for an answer, but he looked away.

It was Matt who dug out two pieces of paper from his pocket and showed it. "We lost them," he said.

Kari gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

Matt pushed in and after making sure everyone had entered, locked the door once more.

Everyone was back in the living room. Tai was back in his seat, leaning back with his eyes closed. Yolei was still lying on the longer sofa, where she had been the entire time Kari was with her.

Davis retold the story of what had happened to them and Kari just listened on without making any sound or movement. When Davis finally finished, Matt took a step forward and tossed the 2 paper on the table. There were some dirty markings on the second note, the one left when Izzy was caught. Under the light it was obvious what it was – prints from the sole of a shoe.

"It looks like someone accidentally stepped on it when they were escaping," he said, "Now we know for sure that our opponent isn't some sort of ghost or monster. It's human."

"We're going to make whoever is behind this pay," said Davis.

"We've already lost 5 people, damn!" T.K. pounded on his knees, his face contorted.

Kari felt her chest tightening up. She had seen T.K. making that face only a few times before, it was a face that broke her heart every time she saw it. She was just as worried about her friends, and seeing T.K.'s face like that made her felt even worse.

"Six."

All heads turned to Tai, even Yolei had gotten up. He shifted forward with his hands clasped under his chin.

"We've lost 6 people," he said softly. "Joe wasn't the first victim."

Silence.

"He was the second."

* * *

_A/N: This chapter was longer than usual and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did writing it. I'll probably be taking a short break from writing this, but don't worry, it won't be that long. I just want to focus on my original fiction over at FictionPress (Please do check it out! It's called Reverie Online, you can find it in my profile here!) and another new fanfic in the works._


	5. There She Goes

**Chapter 5: There She Goes…**

It was as if his body suddenly had a mind of its own, as if he was viewing his surroundings through someone else's eyes. His mind just blanked out, he suddenly could no longer remember what he was doing or thinking before. His vision was fuzzy and swayed from side to side, but he could tell he was walking towards where Tai was sitting.

He saw his hands reached out and clamped onto Tai's shoulders. His mouth struggled to move, which again, was not something he was doing consciously. It was a truly strange experience for him; he really did not know what he did a while ago, what he was doing now, or what he's going to do.

"M… Mi…" he heard his own familiar voice, as if echoing from his mouth into his mind. "M.. Me.."

It all came back, immediately overwhelming him, as if being swept away by a tidal wave.

_"He was the second victim…"_

These words rang over and over. The throbbing in his head had drowned out all other sounds. His vision was shaky, unable to keep focus. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and the lump in his throat made him feel sick and nauseating.

_"He was the second victim…"_

The same words, again and again. He tried to think, but he couldn't, not with his muddled only thing going throigh his mind was the image of a cheerful, brown haired girl with a wide smile.

* * *

Mimi Tachikawa squinted as she blocked the bright sun with her arms. The hot summer sun felt really good and the sound of the waves crashing against the beach was calming despite the myriad of noises one would expect to hear on a busy beach; noisy kids running around, people laughing and screaming just to name a few.

"Here you go, Mimi. Ice cold watermelon juice."

She sat up and reached for the plastic cup that was offered to her. The cup was wet from condensation, and although she enjoyed the heat from the sun, she enjoyed the cold touch. "Thanks!" she said, taking a sip right away. She made a face as a sharp freezing sensation spiked to the top of her head.

Her blond companion laughed at her expression and sat next to her, taking a sip from his own cup. "Mm.. But this is nice."

"I wonder what the others are doing right now back in Japan," said Mimi.

"It's just the start of summer, so I doubt they're doing anything different."

"Knowing them, they'll probably head to the beach soon," said Mimi. "Just like what we're doing right now."

Her companion laughed again. "You really do miss them, don't you?"

Mimi sighed. "Yeah, I do. Sora, Kari.."

"And Matt?" her friend teased, causing her face to become slightly more red than it already was.

"WILLIS!" she punched the snickering boy.

It had been 4 years since she last returned to Japan. It was just a normal trip home where she met up with all her old friends and played around all day and night. But the night before her flight back to the US, Matt had called her up and they met up at a nearby cafe, just the two of them.

She remembered that night really well. It was really cold and the wind was freezing – the complete opposite of what she's experiencing now. Matt got her a cup of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows once they were inside. Oh the marshmallows… she almost choked on one when Matt said those words to her. She never expected it, nor did she ever really put much thought into it, but it was a huge turning point for her.

She didn't know how to react, just staying still looking blankly as traces of the hot chocolate she was just drinking a while ago dripped down the side of the mouth. It had to be unsightly, she was sure. But she rememebered Matt jumping up, panicking, and quickly tried to wipe it away with a paper napkin. Then she burst into laughter, causing Matt to slump back down in his chair, looking dumbfounded.

"I-I'm sorry, Matt," she apologised as she wiped a tear of laughter from her eyes. "It's just, I've never really seen you panicking like that before."

Matt continued to stay frozen while Mimi cleaned herself with her own paper napkin. But when he finally spoke, all he said was, "Then…?"

Mimi knew, of course, what he meant. He was waiting for her answer. She didn't really have one, it was all too sudden. They've rarely seen each other for the past few years, and even back then they weren't really that close. But at the same time, she knew the answer…

"Yo!" Willis poked her. "Stop spacing out, the director is heading over here."

Mimi rubbed her eyes and looked to where Willis was pointing to. A tall man with a short beard wearing bright Hawaiian shirt, sunglasses and a cap, was walking towards where they were. She got up quickly, brushed some sand off her legs and jogged over to him, followed by Willis.

"Director!" she called out. "What are you doing here?"

The man flashed a broad grin. "Good news, Mimi. You got the part."

Mimi covered her mouth in awe, then started to jump around in excitement. "Oh my god! Oh my god!" She grabbed Willis and hugged him tightly. "I did it! Willis, did you hear that!?"

"Yes, yes," Willis face turned slightly pale as he had difficulty breathing. "Congratulations, but if you would please let me go before I suffocate."

The man reached for his back pocket and pulled out a rolled up manuscript. "Here's the manuscript, make sure you study it well," he said, passing it over to Mimi. "There's still some time before we get busy, so as a reward, I'll grant you a wish. Just tell me what you want."

Her heart skipped a beat. She knew exactly what she wanted. "I want to go on a holiday trip!" she declared. "And of course," she grabbed onto Willis's arm and held them tight to her chest while flashing a bright smile across her face. "He's coming with me!"

"Sure, that's not a problem," the director replied. "Where do you want to go?"

"I want to go to – "

* * *

"Matt! Get a hold of yourself!" Tai shouted while holding onto Matt by his shoulders.

Matt shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Huh? What?"

It took him a while to remember what he was doing, and a horrified look came over his face once more. "The first victim!" he cried. "Tai, the first victim, who was it!?"

Tai quickly looked away after being questioned. He bit his lips and dropped back into his seat. He rubbed his eyes with both hands and rubbed his cheeks, as if reluctant to actually say the name.

But it would be pointless to keep hiding it. He had already let out that there was a victim before Joe.

"The first victim was…"

Everyone waited with bated breath.

"Jim. Jim Kido."

Kari gasped. "Joe's brother…"

_A/N: Was planning to get this chapter out before Christmas but I ended spending too much time on my other projects. While the previous chapter was the longest by far, this is the shortest. I've actually gave it quite a bit of thought, and came to the conclusion that the chapter is best left as it is to do what it's supposed to do rather than dragging it out just to fill it up with more words. Let me know what you think, and wishing you a Happy New Year!_


	6. In the Dark of the Night

**Chapter 6: In the Dark of the Night**

Davis woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Something must have woken him up but he could not remember what, and his eyelids were too heavy to move. It was like dejavu, he recalled something similar happening not long ago. Before he knew it, he drifted back to sleep.

But again he thought he had heard or felt something. Irritated, he forced his eyes open. The door was slightly ajar and the light from the corridor helped illuminate the room. He looked around, still feeling dazed, and saw T.K., Matt and Yolei sleeping around him, each curled up in their own futon and blanket. Turning around again, he noticed an empty futon and an empty chair.

He blinked a few times, trying to gather his thoughts, although the pulsing headache he's been feeling since waking up kept him from doing just that.

There were supposed to be two others, he tried to recall. Kari…

His heart skipped a beat and his eyes grew wide. He was fully awake now after coming to a realization. Kari was supposed to be sleeping while Tai kept watch, but the siblings were nowhere in sight. Did something happened to them? But how is that possible without waking up everyone else?

A piece of paper on the floor near the door caught his attention. He began to sweat despite being blown on directly by the airconditioner.

_It can't be..._, he thought, as he reached out for the paper.

With a gulp, he grabbed it with his hand and brought it closer. His hands still shaking, he slowly loosened his grip, and the words written on it was written in big, clear letters…

Toilet.

Davis let out a long sigh. Feeling the tension on his whole body melting away, he let out a soft, nervous laugh. "What the heck, they just went to the toilet. Should have guessed, it's not safe to go anywhere alone now."

He put his head back on his pillow and pulled his blanket over him as he shivered, finally feeling the chill. He tried to go back to sleep but the more he thought about it, the more worried he got. He's been awake for a few minutes now, but there was no sign of Kari or Tai. Even if the both of them did go to the toilet, would it actually take this long for them to return? In the first place, how long has it been since they left the room?

Davis groped for his watch under his pillow and pulled it out. It was already 4am, it would be sunrise soon. He hasn't even slept for an hour yet. His restlessness was continuing to grow with every second.

_Ahhh! I better go check up on them. I won't get any sleep until I know they're safe._

He got up and carefully tip-toed over to the door, making sure that he didn't wake any of his sleeping friends since he wasn't sure if anything actually did happen – it was Tai after all – and he knew they needed the rest.

Opening the door a little more, he snuck one foot into the hallway and slid out as quietly as he could. Once outside, he saw that the place was empty, even near the toilet door. Could they have gone to the one downstairs as not to make any noise? His heart beating fast and hard, he made his way towards the stairs.

* * *

Kari was sleeping soundly when she suddenly heard the sound of paper sliding beside her. She couldn't tell if she dreamt it or if it was something she really heard. She tried to open her eyes but they refused to budge. No more than a few seconds later she forgot all about it as reality once again began to mix with what's on her subconscious mind.

In her mind, she was running down a long corridor with T.K. and her brother besides her. A certain darkness was catching up to them and before long they hit a wall with nowhere else to go. Gasping for breath, T.K. reached out to touch the wall and without warning, the floor under him gave way.

Kari watched in horror as the wide eyed boy slowly fell. She reached out her hand to grab him, and him to her, but he continued to fall down, deeper and deeper. Kari felt cold air rushing into her lungs as if she was about to scream but instead she opened her eyes wide and sat up straight.

She continued to breath heavily as cold sweat trailed down the side of her face. Her hands clenched tightly on her blanket. She turned around to see a peacefully sleeping T.K. next to Matt.

_It was just a dream…_

Looking at the chair where her brother was supposed to be staying awake to keep watch, she found his head slumping over his shoulders, a little drool could be seen from the side of his mouth.

Taking a few deep breaths, she closed her eyes in an effort to calm herself down. Everything that has been happening is getting to her nerves, but she had decided must do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of it.

For the sake of everyone… and for the sake of preventing that nightmare from becoming a reality.

She loosened her grip and rested her hand by her side. But instead of the softness of her futon, she touched a rough surface which easily crumpled under the weight of her hand. Picking it up she could see with the help from the light outside the door that it was a note, but it was unlike the ones they've been getting the past few days. It was… definitely different, and doesn't look like it was written by the same person as the culprit behind the disappearance of her friends.

It read:

_Meet me at the big rock by beach at 4am. _

_I'll tell you everything, the truth behind it all._

_Come alone, and don't worry. Everything will be alright._

Kari felt her heart beating fast again. What is this? Could this be a trap?

She glanced at her watch. It was 3.30am. Just 30 minutes before the mentioned time in the note.

Was this how they got the others? By luring them away with the promise of the truth?

Was this why Joe had been the first victim?

She recalled what her brother had told them just a couple of hours ago.

"Jim Kido," he said.

"Jim.. Joe's brother… was the first victim."

Everyone stared at Tai with disbelief, although Kari somehow noticed a sense of relief had come over Matt. Perhaps he had thought… But he should know as well as everyone else that _she _was too far away to be dragged into this.

"But… how?" T.K. asked. "He wasn't even here with us!"

Kari scowled. But so was Jim... Was he?

Tai shook his head. "It was a last minute decision. Jim was supposed to go camping with his friends but they had to cancel. One of their friends got into an accident and broke his leg. They decided to postpone the camping until he's back on his feet.

"But Jim had prepared a lot of food for their barbeque. So in order not to waste it all, he decided to join us and was supposed to come here earlier to prepare everything and surprise us. But as we all knew, that didn't happen. In fact, none of us besides Joe knew he was coming."

"Then how did you find out all of this?" Matt asked.

"Izzy told me. Joe found the first piece of note after we came here and when he consulted Izzy about it, Izzy pushed it aside as a practical joke and that Jim was probably just delayed. But when Joe disappeared that night, Izzy spooked out. It was Cody who had forced Izzy to tell him what really happened, and when he, too, disappeared, Izzy was convinced that revealing what he knew was somehow connected to who was going to become the next victim. I finally managed to get him to spill the beans to me right before Davis tried to accuse him."

Davis lowered his head, hands tightly gripped on his knees. "I… I didn't know…"

Matt closed his eyes for a moment to think before speaking. "But you said – "

"The ghost story?" Tai interrupted. Matt nodded and Tai continued his explanation. "I created that story up to remove Davis's suspicion on Izzy."

"Why didn't you just tell us the truth?" asked T.K.

Tai closed his eyes, taking a breath before replying. "I didn't want to cause more panic. It really doesn't help that there was an extra victim. But now…" he shuffled in his seat. "I think we need to really hold it together."

"What do you mean?" asked Davis.

"From now on we'll all stick together. No one goes anywhere alone," his eyes were sharp and serious, just as his tone was.

It was a tone Kari knew well. While it was an actual order, it was a tone he used only when things are really serious. The only person she knew would ever object to that was Matt, which doesn't seem likely to happen.

"We'll rest as best we can tonight, and tomorrow, we'll have to go on the offensive," said Tai.

"We can't keep doing the same thing over and over," said Matt. "We might have to consider leaving this place to get help. If we can reach the road affected by the landslide, we should be able to get the people working to clear it up."

Kari half expected her brother to object, saying that they shouldn't leave their friends who were kidnapped behind, but Tai gave his approval instead.

"That may be our last resort, if it comes down to it," he said.

Rubbing her eyes, Kari pulled herself back to the present. Tai would be angry if she had left on her own, and if this really was a trap, then she would just be a willing victim.

Maybe she could turn this trap around. If she woke up everyone and prepare, they could ambush the person who sent the note. With any luck, everything can be resolved right there and then.

No, a little voice in her head called out. Whoever left this note must have been in the room they were sleeping in. She grimaced. They may be watched. If everyone got up and they were seen, it could just scare their target away.

However, if it was just Tai… It could be a risk worth taking…

She carefully stretched her hand out towards him…

* * *

Tai watched as everyone fell asleep and chuckled softly. Despite what everyone said, they were all actually very tired. They only needed one person to keep watch to make sure no one sneaks in in the middle of the night and carry any one of them away and he volunteered to take the first watch.

He was no stranger to going on for days with little sleep, especially when exams are near. Although, he would end up hibernating after they were over. He should still… have enough… energy…

Tai felt his head fell and woke up with a jolt, drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. Seeing a dark figure in front of him he quickly shook his head and rubbed his eyes. As his vision returns to normal he saw that it was Yolei.

"Y-Yolei, what are you doing?"

"I…" she said softly, then looked away. "I need to go to the toilet."

"O-oh," Tai said, getting up. "Then I should go with you."

Yolei nodded and thanked Tai with a voice soft enough so only he could hear it, being close to her.

She opened the door and sneaked out, Tai following closely behind. As he walked behind her, Tai realized how Yolei had been her usual enthusiastic self when they first arrived here, but she quickly became cold and even distant after their friends started to disappear. _Especially Ken_, he thought.

"How are you holding up?" he asked at the same time giving himself a mental kick for asking such a dumb question.

"I'm fine now," she said meekly. "There's no point moping around. We'll have to try harder in the morning…"

Tai nodded even though he knew Yolei could not see him giving his approval.

No more words were exchanged until after they returned to the room, when Yolei stopped Tai from closing the door completely. "Leave a small gap open, so there's some light."

Tai complied with her request without saying anything and sat back on his chair, determined not to doze off again as he watched Yolei crawl back into her futon.

As the minutes passed, he felt grit in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the itchy feeling but it got worse so he shut his eyes tight in order to let it pass instead. It felt like it had only been a few seconds, but when he opened his eyes, something in the room felt wrong.

Looking down, the futon right in front of him was missing its occupant – Kari. In her place, a piece of paper was left on her pillow. He could easily make out what was written on it.

_Damnit, Kari!_, he thought as he got up and out the door. _Why didn't you wake me up if you wanted to go to the toilet!_

* * *

T.K. turned in his futon, trying to get as comfortable as he could. He wondered if it was possible for any one of them to fall asleep given the situation, but no sooner had the thought crossed his mind so did the sound of someone snoring.

A smile cracked across his lips. He should have known Davis would be the first to get knocked out. He turned around again, facing Matt, whose face looked so peaceful now.

Sitting up, he realized that everyone must have already fallen asleep judging by the slow breathing sounds and motion. Even Tai seemed to have lost his battle against the sandman and it hasn't even been 10 minutes since they got in bed.

_I guess I really shouldn't be that 've barely had any rest since coming here…_

Deciding that he would take watch while Tai sleeps, he pulled his legs up and hugged his knees under the blanket. As he sat awake on his own T.K. tries to go through everything that has happened once more in his head, this time trying to search his memory for hints that Jim might have been there before they did on the first day.

He scowled as he remembered how Joe was being absentminded after returning from his walk with Izzy, and Izzy had to nudge Joe to get his mind back on his surroundings. When Joe went to his room, Izzy went right behind him to go to the kitchen.

_Wait… The glass of water Izzy was holding… was it full?_

He closed his eyes as he tried hard to recall the details. Izzy had been gone for a few minutes, and the glass of water he brought back _was _full…

_Why was he gone for so long only to return with a glass of water he has not drank?_

_Or had he already drank and then refilled his glass again?_

T.K. rubbed and pinched the bridge of his nose. _What am I saying… Izzy was caught, too. He couldn't have had anything to do with all of this…_

He thought back to Davis's accusations. _Could he?_

_What am I thinking!? _T.K. pulled the side of his hair a little.

_What if… this is what the culprit has been aiming for. For us to suspect Izzy and have a fallout amongst ourselves._

_Heh… if that's what he is expecting, I'm afraid that it's not going to work._

T.K. smiled to himself, and before he knew it, he had released his grip around his legs and his breathing became slow and steady.

* * *

Matt woke up and saw his brother sitting in his own futon besides him. Looking up, he saw T.K.'s head slowly swaying back and forth, almost rhythmically. It wasn't long before T.K. slid his head back on his pillow and pulled his blanket over with his eyes closed.

He shuffled and laid on his back. His head still felt like it was spinning but the short sleep had helped clear it out a little.

He was really glad when Tai said Jim was the first victim. Though he knew having any victim is bad, he couldn't help but feel relieved that it wasn't Mimi.

As the realization spreads across his body, he felt his muscles began relaxing, tensions washing off and he slowly drifted to sleep once more. The only other thing he was aware of before completely falling asleep was the sound of something getting up from their futon…

* * *

Yolei fluttered her eyes open. Sitting up, she saw that half its occupant was missing. The only people in the room were Matt, T.K. and herself. Looking out the window, she could tell that it the sun was about to rise.

She quickly got up and crawled over to the sleeping brothers and shook them both up. They stirred, then looked at her with drowsy eyes.

"What's wrong?" Matt muttered.

"Tai, Kari and Davis are missing," she said. "Do you guys know where they went?"

"What?" Matt got up and rubbed his eyes then looked around. "No, I don't. Did they go to the toilet or something?"

Yolei shook her head. "They've been gone since I woke up a few minutes ago. I don't think it would take them this long if they just went to the toilet."

Yolei could see a hint of panic creeping over Matt's expression. He quickly threw his blanket aside and pulled T.K. up with him. "We got to go and find them, now!" he cried before making a quick dash for the door.

T.K. took a moment to balance himself before he jumped over the futons towards the door as well. Yolei, too, got up and tried to walk across the futons laid over the floor, but her leg got caught under one and she fell over.

The crash made both Matt and T.K. looked back but before they could run back to help Yolei, she motioned for them to go ahead. "Just go, quickly," she said as she clutched her left knee with one hand and rubbed her shin with the other. "Just give me a minute and I'll catch up."

After getting a quick nod, she watched as the two fling the door open and rushed out, their hurried footsteps echoing down the hallway and then the stairs…

* * *

Kari pulled her cardigan tightly around her as she slowly walked down the beach. Although it wasn't really that cold, the breeze felt like gushes of freezing air stinging on her cheeks, hands and thighs. She was glad she brought her cardigan along, even if it only helped shield her body a little from the wind.

She was just about to wake her brother up when she suddenly realized that she had seen the handwriting on the note before. It was familiar, and the note had been signed "M".

Mimi was the first person who came to her mind, although she could not be sure if that was her handwriting. But if it is, she needs to find out and get to the bottom of this. It was a huge risk, but she had confidence in herself. Thinking back, it was precisely this stubborness of hers that had gotten her into so much trouble in the past, yet at the same time it was also what had saved her, her friends and perhaps even the world.

_Did Matt thought Mimi was the first victim? Was that why he acted so strangely? Even though he knew Mimi was in the states?_

_Thought, _she corrected herself. _Even though he thought she was in the states… Just like what I'm doing right now…_

As she got closer to the big rock stated in the note, she rubbed her hands together and breathed warn air over them. Staring out towards the vast horizon over the waters, she winced as the first rays of light from the sun broke out.

It was already past 4am, and right when she began to wonder if the mysterious author of the note would appear, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

* * *

"Kari! Tai!" Davis called out as he ran down the beach. Stopping right before the big rock, he leaned on his thighs, huffing and puffing. "What – What are you guys doing here?"

Tai rolled his eyes towards his sister. "That's what I want to know, Kari."

Kari groaned. "You didn't have to scare me like that!" she complained.

Before Tai could say anything else, they heard more voices coming calling out to them. Two more figures were running towards them from the villa.

"What are all of you doing out here?" asked Matt as he caught his breath.

"Again, that's what _I _want to know," Tai said.

"I – " Kari started.

"Since everything seems to be fine, let's all head back to the villa first before we talk. Yolei tripped on the futon when we rushed out, she might have injured herself," said Matt.

When they returned to the room, however, Yolei was nowhere in sight. Instead, a piece of paper was found on top of her pillow.

_A more desirable trait, more than just being pretty,_

_It's harder to find one with both Love and Sincerity;_

_Yet another one you've let out of your grasp,_

_Did you just had another gasp?_

_Now I have more friends than you had when we first begun,_

_My surprise party is turning out to be quite fun;_

_As you all flock like insects to the Light,_

_The shadows the grows stronger hidden from sight;_

_But while keeping chase you need to keep in mind,_

_The one __**Who's Next**__, could be the one you left behind._

_A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter took a while to get out. Many things had happened over the past few months and unfortunately, most of them had been rather unpleasant and some even downright horrifying. But the story will continue now that I have more time. The good news is, I'm now more excited to get to the end of this story, including a nice surprise for you if you found yourself truly enjoying every bit of this fan-fiction of mine. _

_Again, thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter and do look forward to the next. There are only 5 people left so it looks like things may be heading towards the end soon. If you simply make a guess, you have a 20% chance of getting it right, so let's see if you can make an accurate guess, on **Who's Next?**_


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